It would be easy to label this a brutal reality check, to call it out as an audition quite comprehensively failed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer; the biggest test of his short career as Manchester United ­manager emphatically flunked.

It would be easy to say this is why United need a coach with continental pedigree, to say this was a clinical reminder of Solskjaer’s greenness, his inexperience, his naivety. It would be easy to say this is why he should not get the job.

But forget all that. For now, at least.

Because this was simply about the destructive pace and talent of the world’s finest young player, supported by a team of technicians who can school most teams. This was about Kylian Mbappe’s jet-heeled brilliance, about his ability to strike fear into an entire team.

Even before he sprinted past Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly, like Frankel taking on a pair of shire horses, and tucked away Angel di Maria’s smart assist, he had United defenders nervously sucking in oxygen.

Never mind the absence of Neymar and Edinson Cavani, when your team has an out-ball to Mbappe at their disposal, they possess a clear and present danger.

With United needing goals in Paris on March 6, if Mbappe stays fit, this tie is as good as over.

United’s performance was not disastrous – defensively suspect, sure, and with only one shot on target, not blessed with a cutting edge. But in-game injuries certainly did not help. Until they lost Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial – the former seconds before half-time, the latter at the break – they were just about managing to hold their own.

Indeed, the likes of Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Marcus Rashford were at the heart of a United start that was at least a touch rousing if lacking in composure.

But composure was a quality not lacking in Thomas Tuchel’s team. Gradually, they began to take control and when Mbappe’s switch was flicked, danger was a frequent visitor to David de Gea.

If Lindelof and Ashley Young were somehow unaware of the extent of Mbappe’s pace, they are not now.

Yet United, with Young lucky not to receive a second caution, got to half-time unscathed. Well, not quite unscathed, as those injuries struck both Lingard and Martial.

And the disruption merely seemed to bolster increasing PSG superiority.

The United pressing eased and PSG flourished, edging ahead when Presnel Kimpembe blind-sided Matic and arrived to volley in a Di Maria corner. It was hardly an accomplished piece of set-piece defending but it was a fine delivery from Di Maria, who, as well as being barrelled down a hill by Young, had been given a night-long unfriendly welcome by his former fans.

He certainly enjoyed celebrating Kimpembe’s nicely controlled finish, but not as much as he revelled in the pass into Mbappe’s path that pretty much set one French foot into the quarter-finals.

This PSG team exuded confidence and there was class outside of the Mbappe display, particularly from Di Maria and an impressive Julian Draxler.

In the midfield tussle, it became an emphatic points win for Marquinhos and Marco Verratti.

Never mind United’s managerial situation, there was a palpable gulf in player quality.

It will certainly have to be a Herculean effort by United in France if they are to extend their Champions League involvement beyond one more match — especially as Pogba will miss it after being dismissed for a silly second yellow card offence, a needless foul on Draxler, in the closing stages.

Forget the implications of this game, if Solskjaer can pull it off in Paris he will be able to write his own contract.

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Man Utd loss to PSG about Kylian Mbappe’s brilliance not Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s inexperience was last modified: February 13th, 2019 by musbizu